The present invention relates generally to thermal sensitive media with internal RF printing matrix. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a thermal sensitive media that may be UV coated with an internal radio frequency (RF) matrix to provide a means to impart human readable information on media containing a RFID inlay when a RFID encoding process is used without the benefit of a print mechanism at the time the RFID device is encoded.
Currently, one of the largest drawbacks of using pressure sensitive thermal media in the creation of tags and labels is that this type of media cannot handle any lengthy exposure to UV energy (light) for any duration of time without turning black or otherwise discoloring. The surface coating of thermal media is intentionally designed to be directly influenced by some sort of heating (energy) element so an image can be created on its surface. Thus, its current strength is also its weakness preventing wider acceptance of uses in labeling or identification methods.
Other methods for use in printing labels can be achieved though thermal transfer ribbons. However, this requires a ribbon supply of material in order to complete the imaging of the label.
Furthermore, when performing RFID encoding of an inlay, containing an integrated circuit or chip, laminated within a structure, such as a pressure sensitive label, normally the media itself has to be passed through a RFID printer (i.e., thermal, inkjet, impact, etc.) to impart a human readable image on the surface of the media in which the RFID inlay is contained to allow anyone to understand what the inlay was encoded with or the product with which the inlay is associated. Thus, a thermal printer, equipped with RFID technology, is responsible for the interrogation and encoding of the RFID inlay contained within the laminated media and the printing apparatus of the printer itself has the responsibility to create an image, human readable or machine readable such as a bar code, on the surface of the media.
However, using a printer of any kind is not a practical method to impart an image on each individual item when items are bulk packed into cartons, such as when items are manufactured and then shipped to a distribution point or retailer, where the individual items are removed and then displayed or further transported to the next destination. To remove each item from the carton and route each tag through a printer by some means into a RFID capable printer is simply not feasible. Currently, there is no means to place an image on the surface of the tags or labels other than printing during the encoding process. This is not very practical if the intention is using RFID to conduct bulk encoding wherein all of the inlay as well as the media are essentially blank until encoded. The user would have to open the carton and retrieve each item that was tagged. It defeats the advantage provided in speed and handling of cartons by not touching each item in the carton in the first place.
The present invention discloses a thermal sensitive media with an internal radio frequency (RF) matrix to provide a means to impart human or machine readable information on media containing an RFID inlay when a RFID encoding process is used without the benefit of a print mechanism in which the media may be UV coated. Specifically, the media has a lamination layer internal to the media itself that contains a matrix of micro heating elements which can be activated by RF power. Use of this internal matrix printing allows for utilization of a UV protective coating on the outer most layer of the media surface to protect the subcutaneous thermal layer from changing color other than intended by the internal matrix.